The newest scripted Ricky Gervais-Stephen Merchant collaboration, HBO's Life's Too Short, features many of the same elements as their previous TV triumphs, The Office and Extras -- with one small exception. That exception is British actor Warwick Davis, the central focus of this new comic mockumentary series. He's 3'6"...

2012

Feb

KEN BURNS VISITS BARACK OBAMA, THEN ME -- BUT ONLY ONE OF US FED HIM HOAGIES By David Bianculli

On Monday, I picked up Ken Burns at the 30th Street train station in Philadelphia and brought him to the campus at Rowan University in New Jersey, for a semi-stealth visit at a deliberately underpublicized Talking Pictures campus event in which he slipped into class for a two-hour talk -- showing clips from recent and upcoming productions, fielding questions from students, and telling some great stories and bad jokes along the way. I may not have mentioned it here -- but as an under-the-radar

2012

Feb

MORE THAN 25 YEARS LATER, STILL THE BEST THAT TV HAS TO OFFER By David Bianculli

England botched its chance to mount a proper 25th-anniversary salute to the greatest drama ever written expressly for television -- but is making up for it now, by presenting a prime-time rebroadcast, 26 years later, of Dennis Potter's miniseries masterpiece, 1986's The Singing Detective. And America still has time to plan for our own silver anniversary, because the drama didn't air in this country until 1988...

2012

Feb

NEW DVD RELEASES OF OLD TV SHOWS FEATURING MEL BROOKS AND DAVID STEINBERG ARE A RIOT -- AND STILL SEEM CAPABLE OF INSPIRING ONE By David Bianculli

They're old TV shows, newly released on DVD, and they're both hilarious - but they're not sitcoms. They're talk shows: one is a seminar that gathers most of the writers who worked on Sid Caesar's comedy programs of the 50s and 60s, the other is an old episode of The David Susskind Show that invites its prominent guests to explore the topic How to Be a Jewish Son...

2012

Feb

PBS 'NATURE' SHOW REMINDS ME OF MY OWN ROCKY 'RACCOON' HISTORY By David Bianculli

Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, Nature presents a new installment, called Raccoon Nation, that includes night footage of the prowlers sneaking around city streets and back yards, like the masked bandits they resemble. But as I watch, I can't help but think about my personal battles with raccoons...

2012

Feb

'DOWNTON ABBEY' SEASON 2 -- SEE IT END ON DVD BEFORE IT ENDS ON PBS! By David Bianculli

Here's a strange, aggressive bit of salesmanship: PBS Video is releasing Season 2 of Downton Abbey today (Tuesday, Feb. 7) on both DVD and Blu-Ray. But on television, here in the U.S., the series doesn't complete Season 2 for two more Sundays. So if you don't want to wait to see how this year's Downton Abbey adventures end, you don't have to...

2012

Feb

NBC'S 'SMASH': A MUSICAL TREAT, A DRAMATIC TRIUMPH... AND A GIFT By David Bianculli

There are lots of professional reasons I can give you to watch Monday's premiere of Smash, NBC's new drama series about the making of a Broadway musical -- starting with its creators, its cast, its premise, its clever twists, and its equally clever music and lyrics. But there's also a personal reason, which I'll save for last...

2012

Feb

SUPER BOWL MUSICAL MANIA: MADONNA AT HALFTIME, 'THE VOICE' AFTERWARD, 'SMASH' THE NEXT DAY By David Bianculli

Each network has a different approach to programming the post-Super Bowl slot, with varying results. Two years ago, CBS used its post-Super Bowl slot to launch a new reality series, Undercover Boss. It was renewed, and still continues, so that game plan worked. Last year, Fox used its ultra-valuable time slot after Super Bowl XLV to expose new viewers to an existing hit: its high-school comedy-drama-musical mashup, Glee...

2012

Feb

TODAY ON NPR'S 'FRESH AIR,' I'LL BE A 'SMASH' -- INTERVIEWING PRODUCERS BEHIND THAT NEW NBC SERIES By David Bianculli

I'm really, really impressed by NBC's Smash, the new making-of-a-musical drama series -- NOT a reality show -- that premieres Monday. I'll have a full review of that series then -- but for now, please check out Thursday's Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, on which I interview two of the show's executive producers, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron...

2012

Feb

ONCE ON 'X FACTOR,' PAULA ABDUL IS NOW AN EX-'FACTOR' By David Bianculli

In reality-TV terms, it would be like Donald Trump turning to his own son on NBC's The Apprentice and dismissing him with a curt "You're fired": Simon Cowell has delivered several pink slips regarding his Fox series The X Factor, effectively X-ing out not only stiff-as-a-surfboard host Steve Jones and wishy-washy judge Nicole Scherzinger, but his American Idol crony Paula Adbul as well. Which proves at least two things... One, Cowell is an astute enough businessman to make and steal headline

Posts 331-340 of 1097

33 34 35 36 37

David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.

New From TVWW

David Bianculli

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption

1957: Julie Andrews Stars in 'Cinderella'